You’re absolutely correct. I did not post a Wine of the Week on Sunday or Monday, so despite the fact that this is Thursday I’m going to write the Wine of the Week because this is a week and Thursday is a day in it. Frankly, friends, sometimes I have to lend myself to writing that pays actual money instead of free wine, which is great but pays no bills. Also, I was in Napa Valley from Sunday night through Tuesday, and then when I returned had to throw myself into more freelance work. To compensate, though, for the relativity of my tardiness, I offer two red wines of different quality and price that both happen to be appropriate for pizzas and pasta dishes, burgers, steaks hot and crusty from the grill and such hearty fare.

First is the Calcu Cabernet Franc 2010, Colchagua Valley, Chile, the sort of inexpensive cabernet franc from Chile that if you tasted it blind would compel you to say, “Son of a gun, this tastes exactly like an inexpensive cabernet franc from Chile!” By which I mean that it does precisely the job it’s supposed to do, neither bursting the bounds of expectation nor sagging before the finish line, to include a faint Olympic metaphor. (And would I be a complete jerk if I said that I just don’t get water polo?) The color is dark ruby with a purple-violet tinge; beguiling aromas of ripe black currants, blueberries and plums feel saturated with notes of cloves, thyme and bay leaf and hints of black olive and bacon fat. The wine is dense without being weighty and tannic enough for a fairly hefty structure but without being grainy or gritty; it’s robust, cut with an acid edge and very tasty with black and blue fruit flavors. Drink through 2013. Very Good+. About $14, representing True Value.

The Grgich Hills Estate Zinfandel 2009, Napa Valley, derives from the winery’s gravelly, loamy vineyard in Calistoga, up at the northern end of Napa Valley, where the vintage provided warm, sunny days and cool nights. All of Grgich Hills vineyards are farmed following biodynamic principles. There’s two percent petite sirah in the wine, which spent 15 months in large French oak casks; the wood influence stays resolutely in the background, contributing to the wine’s firmness and suppleness. (Winemaker is Ivo Jeramaz.) The color is brilliant medium ruby; aromas of blackberry, mulberry and plum are sown with seeds of cloves and sandalwood and fruitcake, the effect being ripe, spicy and slightly exotic, especially as hints of lavender and black licorice, white pepper and potpourri unfold after a few minutes in the glass. I already mentioned the wine’s supple nature, to which we may add dense, chewy tannins that are nonetheless smooth and lithe and a burgeoning earthy, mossy character that takes on notes of graphite and slate. The wine is quite dry, despite the juiciness of its smoky black currant, blackberry and sage flavors, and the alcohol, distinctly unshy, turns up the afterburners through the long spice-and-mineral packed finish, which comes off a tad hot. That alcohol measures 15.3 percent, higher than I would like but not so obtrusive with the right sort of food, and the fact is that we enjoyed the wine immensely with a rich, savory pizza that featured cured and smoked hog jowl and oven-dried tomatoes and banana peppers with Thai basil. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $35.